Premier League 2 reaction: New challenges provide important lessons

The head coach of Chelsea's Under-21 team, Mark Robinson, had mixed emotions following their recent match against Crystal Palace. Despite falling behind by two goals, the team was able to fight back and earn a point. The match presented some unique obstacles for the Chelsea players to overcome.

We journeyed to Crystal Palace for our second-to-last game of the league phase in our season. We had already confirmed our spot in the Premier League 2 title playoffs. However, our adversaries' possibility of advancing to the elimination rounds was uncertain.

During the game, Chelsea fell behind soon after the second half began. By the hour mark, they were already losing by two goals. However, Deivid Washington managed to start a comeback with a great shot while turning. Then, Zak Sturge was able to tie the game from a corner kick with only 10 minutes left on the timer.

According to Mark Robinson, the head coach, if you want your team to deliver top-notch performance, you need to focus on various aspects of their performance, which may vary from one game to another.

Now that we've made it to the play-offs, it was crucial for us to win this game since it was necessary for Palace. Our determination to win had to be stronger than theirs. Even though wearing a Chelsea shirt should be incentive enough, we're only human and our emotions play a role in how we perform. As a result, it's sometimes necessary to provide the players with visual aids to inspire them, particularly when the opposition is driven by a stronger desire to win.

The VBS Community Stadium had a challenging surface that posed a difficulty for the team. This kind of difficulty is not something that many of the Blues are accustomed to dealing with in Academy football.

Robinson also mentioned that they had to face the challenge of the playing field. He explained that it can be commonly said that talented players can perform well on any surface and that it affects both teams, but in reality, a rough surface can impact technical abilities.

The situation is not equal for both teams since Palace is used to playing on that particular surface and they know how to use it to their advantage. On the other hand, our players have limited exposure to such a surface during their training and games. Your playing style is largely influenced by your learning environment, and we may have to adapt quickly to overcome this disadvantage.

During our training sessions, we made an effort to tackle this issue with the players. However, our style of play relies heavily on moving the ball quickly and making precise passes in order to break through the opposing team's defense. When we have to slow down our ball speed significantly just to maintain control of the ball on the ground, we lose the chance to capitalize on the usual opportunities to score against them.

As a consequence, we ended up making more direct passes than we prefer, and those passes aimed forward without any twists and turns are not usually effective, which is something we usually steer clear of.

When you encounter this difficulty, you require specific players in particular positions to exhibit strength and hold onto the ball, enabling you to construct your plays. However, they outdid us in this aspect because it is something they frequently perform.

I don't mind that at all because it highlights the specific aspects of someone's gameplay that require improvement. Every game presents unique obstacles, which is why it's important to address these areas.

Although Chelsea didn't win against Crystal Palace, Robinson didn't feel discouraged by the result. He believed that the game offered valuable experience to their young players, and there were some positives to focus on. Especially during the second half, when they made a comeback.

Even though we didn't play our top game, we began with four players who were Under-18s, and by the end, we had eight out on the field. As a result, we were a lot younger than the other team, but we still managed to pull off a victory, which will greatly benefit the growth and progress of our players.

This experience could have served as a novel obstacle for certain players, and upon introspection, they will gain a plethora of valuable insights.

I can't claim that we deserved to emerge as winners based on the overall gameplay, but we had generated an equal number of high-quality opportunities. Once we scored the equalizer, I believed that we had the potential to seal the victory. We even managed to get two more opportunities to clinch the win.

I was very happy with how our replacements performed, something that has not happened consistently throughout this season.

Overall, it was a night filled with several favorable advancements that the players should take note of and remember for future reference.